The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1887-08-14
CONTEMPLATING.
An Hour in tho Rogues' Gallery
at Washington.

An Hour in tho Rogues' Gallery
at Washington.
"Thcre is 81, 100000 in counterfeit
money in that safe The remark was
made 10 me by the thick set. blond
haired.man, who. dressed in scersuckcr
clothes, stands guard over the rogucs'
gallery of the treasury. The safe re-
fcrrcd to was big bookease-like af-
fair of steel which lined the walls Mt
hr, back. In front of him there was a
liable and upon it some large scrap
books, some of which were filled with
the photographs of the more noted
coumtcrfcitcrs, and Others which con-
sancd specimens of counterfeit bills.
The room was not more than twelve by
fourteen feet, and its walls were hung
with carvi-szed photographs of eoun-
tcrfeitors. Faces full of vice and cum
ming look down upon us from every
side, and there were, he told me photo
graphs of over 5000 rogucs hanging
all around me.
lie opened drawer of the table and
showed INC specimens of the weapons
which had been taken with the coun-
tcrfoitcrs. and told me that the Italians
were seldom captured without knives
upon their person, and that they would
rather kill than be taken. | saw q
pair of brass knuckles, a billy and q
half score of cruel knives. One knife
was made of file blade, and it was
fully two feet long, including the ham
die, and its point WAS rs sharp rs that
of a needle. There were other knives
OF all shapes and forms, and the thick
set, blonde-haired, bluc-eycd man told
me that many of the arrests made were
accompanied by bloodshed. Besides
these knives were some of the plates,
dies and molds used for making the
''queer;" and watched him as lie ex-
planned how the gold eagle and the sill
yer dollar were easily counterfeitcd.
A counterfeit dollar can be made of
antimony and lead for about two cents,
and if ten cents worth Of silver be
plated upon it it can be made to feel
and ring like the dollar Of our daddies.
This, however, soon wears off and the
counterfeit is detected. There are
many counterfeit nickels in circula-
ton, and the molds for making these
may be seen here. They look like bull
let molds. and the counterfeiter is able
to turn out Il good many dollars day.
He seldom escapes detection, however,
and the guard at the gallery tells me
that he has never yet known of a coun-
tcrfciter who has made any money out
of the business
'fThey always get TAKEN" said he,
''sooncr or later, and it is Otter
sooner"
These countcrfeiters, as they look
down on the walls around the rogucs
gallery, are persons of all ages. from
the child of fourteen to the gray-haired
man Of seventy. They represent no,
only the counterfeit makers. but those
who pass the bad money, and they in
clude every nationality, even to thu
American and the heather Chinee
There are q number of Chinese coun
terfcitcrs They do not, as rule. en-
grave the bills they put out, but they
arc adopts at the change of 81 bill t.
a $40 or 800, and by the aid of ciga
stamps and similar bills they max,
some worry fair limitations of the large
denominations. They are also coli
filters. and they will bore silver dollar
through for the shavings and fill tn
holes with cheaper metals.
They are not an intellectual set o
Cinnamon, but they are perhaps tn,
most expert imitators in the world
They get caught, however, and quite
number Of them are now in the peni
tentiaries.
Women countcrfcitcrs are of all age
and styles. Some are very pretty an
others so homcly that the Witch of En-
dor would look like Venus beside them
Countcrfeiting often runs in families
and Colonel Brooks, the head Of tn
secret service, once told me that h
thought it somewhat hereditary. Thes
women are more Successful than me
in getting rid of the counterfeit none
and they can pass it where men woul
fail. Nearly every gang of counter
fcitcrs has one or two women passer
in it, and in families where the cour
tcrfeiting is done the women or wive
of the counterfeiters often attempt I
put the spurious money into circul'
ton.
The money is not, as a rule, passe
out in its new shape. There are var
Gus methods of making the bills loo
old and giving them the appearance (
having been handled. They are SOM
times dipped in weak coffee to 81,
them 4 brownish tint oil is used {
produce the cfIcct of finger-marks, an
The bills are rubbed this way and TIL
until they are soft and lose their rus
ling nature.
] am told that there is scarcely 9
issue of our money which has not bee
connterfcited, and | saw in the scri
book counterfeit notes of all desert
tons. One curiosity was Sl,0'
coupon of 1881, and the Governme
has 204 of these bonds which they ca
turcd just before they were ready to
put upon the country. 1t is an exec
lent imitation, and it is impossible +
the ordinary man TO detect the d
ference between it and the origins
1t was engraved by Smith, a m;
who had worked for years T
the engraving Office in New York viii
engraved the Government none
There were three men in the schen
Smith. Brockway and Doyle. Smi
was the engraver. Brcckway the ma
ager aud brains Of Tho plot, and Do,